by NF · 2024
The song “FEAR” by NF is about struggling with overwhelming anxiety, inner darkness, and a sense of losing control, as the artist battles with his fears, mental health challenges, and feelings of despair while questioning his faith and purpose.
This song has been Shazamed over 46,293 times. As of this writing, FEAR is ranked 83
‘FEAR’ by NF is a song about battling your own mind and facing the darkness that comes with fear. In this post, we’re going to break down the lyrics, mood, and message behind the song so we can better understand what NF is trying to say. Let’s explore how this track captures the struggle so many people feel. ⬇️
The overall mood of “FEAR” is heavy, raw, and soaked in a kind of midnight honesty—NF paints a world where darkness is not just outside but lurking within. The narrative follows a battle with mental health, showing how fear is both a visitor and an old companion.
The chorus hits like a punch to the gut—NF stands back, watching his “mansion” (his mind, his life, his dreams) burn down, while he himself holds the gas can. There’s this wild, unsettling feeling of being both the victim and the arsonist, as he questions God about who really started the fire. We’re left wondering: are we sabotaging ourselves, or is there something bigger at play, pushing us to the edge?
The verses unravel like tangled headphones in your pocket—frustrating, messy, sometimes making you want to scream. “OCD is worse than ever, hands are bleeding,” he confesses, letting us glimpse the physical ache of his mental struggles, while lines like “Every decision made isn’t mine anymore / Like a puppet with strings” capture that helpless, marionette feeling when fear takes control. There’s heartbreak, loss, disappointment—NF is desperate enough to let his darkness back in, even after promising himself he wouldn’t, and honestly, who hasn’t been there?
The bridges echo again and again with “Is this what you wanted?”—as if he’s shouting into an empty room, daring someone (God? Himself? Us?) to answer. The repetition is haunting, almost dizzying; it’s the sound of someone teetering on the brink, grappling with hope, faith, and the cruel joke of finding peace only to lose it. It’s messy, it’s real, and it’s a reminder that sometimes the hardest questions have no answers—just echoes.
At its core, “FEAR” is a brutally honest confession about the cycle of self-destruction and the exhausting quest for meaning in pain, with NF exposing his scars so we can recognize our own.
Writer(s) of FEAR:
